Arrival

Day 1

Waking up in an unfamiliar setting is only hard when you go to sleep horribly inebriated. You didn't. It was seven in the morning. Judging by the snoring lump that is one of your roommates, Mr Auburn hadn't done his morning rounds to wake up the boys yet. As a result, you decided to reward yourself with first choice of the showers. Of course, the worst thing about moving into a boarding house had to be the public showers. Prison much? You chuckled to yourself as you quietly grabbed your toiletries, bathrobe and slunk downstairs to the washroom. Because for some reason the showers for sixty boys were on the first floor of a three storey building. Genius. You picked a cubicle at random and went about washing yourself. This was after all your only chance at a fresh start and you weren't about to be the guy with bed hair. As you showered, slowly but surely other boys began to filter down and take their pick of cubicles. You finished quickly.

After dressing yourself in your brand new uniform: the same hideous, grey school boy trousers that every poor male from the age of three to sixteen seemed to be forced to wear. Accompanying this came a white shirt and tie with the crest of the school peppered all over it. You donned your own quilted jacket however, instead of the dull, impossibly-heavy blazer that the school equipped you with. You were going to look smart, and proper, but God forbid you march around this place looking like a clone of the other boys around you. You popped the collar of your jacket and smirked to yourself in the mirror before a glance at your poor attempt to tie your tie broke you out of this trance of self confidence. Fucking dyspraxia. Fucking uniforms. You fiddled about with it for a moment before giving up. It still looked no better. Whatever. Who cares.

You grabbed your phone off charge and strolled away, once again to the cafeteria, for breakfast this time. As you sit down by yourself for the first time in the cafeteria, you give the school one thing: breakfast is bloody good. As you wallowed in the pleasure of a full english breakfast, you were joined. How your brain managed to come up with so many idiotic thoughts of you already being in trouble with some teacher or some student totally befuddled you.

Scratch that. You cast your gaze upwards at the boy of your age stood in front of you, smiling. You knew him. You were at the same school several years ago. He settled his tray down across from you at sat down. You breathed a quick sigh of relief and started chatting with him, gladdened with a familiar face amongst a swarm of aliens. It was better than nice. For a very precious moment, you didn't feel isolated and lost. The pair of you talked and joked, about your old school, about the uncomfortable boarding house beds, about classes, about an impending Cathedral service that occurs every Monday morning. You rolled your eyes at the prospect. You didn't sign up for this. "Any way we can like, skip it?" You mused, leaning in a little and speaking in a hushed tone, like you were planning the most covert of operations. Your attempt at subtlety was short lived, however, as another boy joined you. Well, he was hardly a boy. Despite the fact that he was from Hong Kong (not China, it matters), and that he was your age, he towered at about six feet tall, maybe more. He chuckled deviously as he sat down next to you and patted your back. "Skipping Cathedral on your first day? I like that." You could hear the big grin in his voice. You were somewhat excited that you weren't alone in that regard. Heaven forbid they brainwashed some sort of obsessive compliance into the students here. You quickly added each others Snapchats as you drafted a cheeky plan of attack. Sneaking away from the pack before disappearing into the city high street. You felt like a mobster, and clearly this wasn't this guys first rodeo. This was going to be good. It was all going to be good once you got into it.

Feeling confident of your machinations, and somewhat bloated after your hearty breakfast, you and the boys made your way back to your houses. All three of you were in different houses. You marched off with a little smile on your face that sung innumerably of your new-found confidence. The early January sun wasn't shining but it definitely felt like it. Truth be told you weren't ever really much of a trouble maker or a rule breaker before. You'd had a handful of detentions and disciplinary telling-offs: Vandalism (scribbling on a Chemistry lab floor in washable marker), rude behaviour (you told one girl to fuck off), and misuse of technology (you went on coolmathgames during a IT class). Teachers needed to grow up and chill out. At least you weren't doing drugs for heaven's sake.

About half an hour passed and it was time for the Monday morning Cathedral service, or not time for it, per-se. You fired your co-conspirator, Kenny, a quick message, and he quickly replied, telling you he was already at the designated hiding spot in the music department. With a 'OK' hand sign emoji of approval, you followed your housemates most of the way to the ancient Cathedral, letting yourself drag to the back of the pack. You feigned being a slow walker to let everyone pass you and gave off the sense that you were oh-so distracted by your phone. It worked perfectly, even Mr Auburn strutted purposefully past you. Then, with a quick look about your position on the wide, open plateau of the Cathedral green, you made your move. Scurrying vivaciously to the music department, it was only on the far North side of the green and across the street. Your eyes kept darting either side for anyone that looked teacherly. They didn't wear a uniform but they had a huge tell: a bright blue and white striped lanyard. It was much more simple than your own adrenaline told you. Kenny had clearly gotten bored of waiting and you could see his giant self moving towards you. You gave him a nod of approval and stopped to wait for him. You greeted him with a fist-bump and you both laughed. It went off without a hitch. Hallelujah. The pair of you made your way into the high street.

"What's the move now then?" He said as he pulled a vape-pen out of his inside blazer pocket and began fiddling with it. Blowing a raspberry, you patted your front, left pocket that was bloated by your wallet. "I need caffeine, let's grab a drink yeah?" He nodded approvingly as he inhaled on the vape. He sighed out a thick, white cloud that smelled delicious. Passing it to you as you walked and talked you did your best to copy him but coughed innocently. Well that certainly won't earn you any points. "My first time," you spluttered, doing your best to recover. How the hell do people get into these things? He shook his head dismissively, the big guy was far too mellow to care, but you still did. You finally arrived at a newsagents and the pair of you plucked energy drinks from the refrigerator before you heard her voice.

"What have we got going on here then?"